Sabah's Double Six Tragedy: A breakdown

SHAH ALAM - A GAF N-22B Nomad plane crashed on approach to Kota Kinabalu International Airport on June 6, 1676, shocking everyone as it took place 53 days after Tun Fuad Stephens was appointed as Sabah Chief Minister.

Everyone on board the plane died in the crash, including some notable Sabah public figures as written in a book titled "The Golden Son of The Kadazan" by a politician cum author Bernard Sta Maria.

It is now widely known as the "Double Six Tragedy", named after the date of the crash.

According to reports, no Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) or Flight Data Recorder (FDR) was produced as it did not have a black box to record flying events.

The aircraft was also used to transport heavy freight from Labuan, including golf equipment and coloured television sets.

The plane was designed to be flown by two pilots. Johari Stephens, a trainee pilot at the time had requested to sit at the co-pilot seat.

The plane was scheduled to land in Kota Kinabalu at 3.30pm under good weather condition. It has circled the airfield and approached it from the north.

At 3.40pm, the plane was about 600 feet above sea level, flying at 86 knots and was heading north toward the runway.

According to witnesses, the jet seemed to stall, with one wing dipping down. The plane was spiraling downward.

It then made made one and a half turn before crashing into the shallow sea near Kampung Sembulan.

According to reports published later, the plane was meant to approach the airport runway from the south.

Unfortunately, it was directed to fly past the airfield to make room for a Malaysia Airlines (MAS) plane.

There were reports of conflicting directions at ground control but it later denied.

The 3.41.27pm crash was about 50 feet from the nearest dwellings in Kampung Sembulan, a five minutes drive from Kota Kinabalu.

Fortunately, no one in the village was injured otherwise.

The first ones on the scene were firefighters, police officers arrived later and blocked off the area.

The airplane was a total wreck, making access to the interior difficult.

Tun Fuad's brother, Ben Stephens, and Police Commissioner Yusof Khan were among the first to arrive at the site.

The authorities were eventually able to remove all 11 bodies from the plane.

Except for Peter Mojuntin, whose face can still be recognised, all of the bodies could not be recognised. Corporal Said, Tun Fuad's bodyguard was the first victim to be found.

Among the things recovered were two revolvers, five watches, and RM6,000 in cash.

"There were bodies all over the floor of the plane...,they were mangled in different ways. Tun Fuad was sprawled grotesquely, his limbs at an odd angle to his body. I recognised him by his size. Peter Mojuntin had his face untouched but there was a bloody hole at the back of his head," Police Commissioner Yusof Khan recalled in a book.

"The smell of blood was terrible and my chaps were at the point of fainting, but we managed to get the bodies out of the plane and lined them up near to it so that we could make a quick identification. There were no survivors. I was horrifed to see that almost every Berjaya (Sabah People's United Front) senior leader was there. Only Harris was missing," he said.

Meanwhile, at 6.00pm on the same day, the then Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Harris Salleh announced the sad news to the nation.

Harris thad called the then prime minister, Datuk Hussein Onn who promptly ordered a full-scale inquiry into the cause of the incident, which included special investigators from the Civil Aviation Department, the Air Force, the police, and other government agencies.

Government Aircraft Factories (GAF), based in Australia, has chosen to undertake an investigation to verify that the crash was not caused by a mechanical flaw.

It was carried out in collaboration with authorities from Australia's Transport Department.

Four months later, the investigation was completed but the report was classified under the Official Secrets Act 1972.

According to the official account, the aircraft disaster was caused by pilot mistake and aircraft overload.

The tragedy has birthed many speculations, one being a supposed powerplay between the state the federal government which however, has not been proven. Strained Sabah-KL relationship was said to grow friendlier following the tragedy and Sabah also signed the much objected five per cent oil royalty agreement on June 14.

A memorial was built in the Sembulan neighbourhood near the Grace Garden housing complex in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, not long after the catastrophe.

It is shaped like an obelisk and is built of stone, known as "Tugu Peringatan Double Six" (Double Six), and it commemorates a major catastrophe in Sabah history.

On April 4, 2023, the High Court in Kota Kinabalu ordered the Malaysian government to declassify the federal investigation report into the June 6, 1976 plane crash.

The decision was delivered by High Court judge Datuk Christopher Chin Soo Yin, who issued a mandamus order directing the Malaysian government to take the necessary steps to declassify or make public the Malaysian authorities' investigation report into the tragedy.

The judge also handed the Malaysian government three months, or until June 8, to comply under the same court ruling.

The judge further stated that if the public revelation of the inquiry report necessitates any associated action by the Australian government, the Malaysian government must immediately guarantee that Canberra takes the necessary steps to allow the declassification to take place as soon as possible.

On April 5, 2023, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that the federal government has agreed to declassify papers related to the June 6, 1976 disaster, after 47 years.

In a news conference following the Cabinet meeting, he said that this is in line with the present government's efforts to maintain the increased transparency that Sabah, the affected family members, and people in Sabah deserve.

"We have decided to declassify the final report on the Sabah air disaster. The government and the Transport Ministry will disseminate additional information," he said, referring to the Cabinet.

Anwar also stated that the public will have complete access to the records in a week, with some of the details provided in the next two days.

He also stated that the government has obtained legal advice on the legal ramifications of the declassification from the Attorney General Chambers (AGC).

"However, we believe we owe it to the people, particularly those in Sabah. I don't believe findings like these, which are facts and of concern to families, states, and the public, should be kept secret," he added.

11 people on board the flight perished during the crash:

1. Tun Fuad Stephens, Sabah Chief Minister

2. Datuk Ishak Atan, private secretary to Tengku Razaleigh (then Finance Minister)

3. Johari Stephens, trainee pilot with Sabah Flying Club (also Fuad's son)

4. Captain Ghandi Nathan, pilot and captain of the aircraft

5. Corporal Said, Fuad's bodyguard

6. Datuk Chong Thain Vun, Sabah Transport and Works Minister

7. Darius Binion, Deputy Minister

8. Datuk Peter Mojuntin, Local Government and Housing Minister

9. Datuk Salleh Sulong, Sabah Finance Minister

10. Datuk Wahid Andu

11. Dr Syed Hussin Wafa, State Economic Planning Unit director